Towards a new edition of Bodhaayana-G.rhya-Suutra

Timothy Lubin (Washington and Lee University, USA)

This paper lays the groundwork for a new critical edition of the Bodhaayana-G.rhya-Suutra, one of the longest and most important, yet most neglected, of the codes of domestic ritual (which as a class have attracted less attention than they merit). First, the BGS will be situated in relation to other Taittiriiya (and especially Baudhaayana-school) works. In particular, there are numerous instances in which cites or otherwise depends on the Baudhaayana-“Srauta-Suutra. Brief remarks will also be made on its relationship to other Black Yajur-Veda g.rhya-suutras and to the Pit.rmedha-Suutra, G.rhya-Paribhaa.saa-Suutra, G.rhya-“Se.sa-Suutra, and Dharma-Suutra of the Baudhaayana school, and on divergences between the mantras it prescribed and those collected in the AApastamba Mantra-Paa.tha. The question is raised whether its prolixity and its inclusion of mantras in full should automatically be taken to indicate the BGS’s greater antiquity relative to other g.rhya-suutras. The fact that B“SS is also known for being less concise, even to the point of containing braahma.na-type passages, has generally been treated as proof of its being one of the first suutras to be composed. Yet if the g.rhya-sutras as a class came into being as a secondary development, even the oldest of them could have adopted a more mature suutra style. Various possible explanations are considered: (a) The BGS was composed in tandem with or only shortly after the B“SS; or (b) the BGS is in fact much younger that the B“SS, but was deliberately made to resemble its “srauta prototype, which remains one of the earliest “srauta-suutras; or perhaps (c) prolixity and full citation of mantras were a stylistic preference of the Baudhaayana school, and so cannot inform us about relative chronology. In light of these questions, a brief assessment of the 1904 Mysore edition of L. Srinivasachar and its 1920 revision by R. Shama Sastri will be offered, followed by a summary of significant variants encountered in manuscripts from Nepal (NGMPP A522/6, Devanaagarii on paper) and Pondicherry (IFP M35177, Grantha on palm leaf).